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"Before seeing an adult?"

"She gave a provisional identification from the field signs. The submerged clutch and first adult confirmed it."

Councilor Vale turned to Dannian. "How did an entire nesting colony arrive without your team detecting it?"

Dannian did not look pleased by the question, but he answered it without reaching for an excuse. "Because we were measuring the flare effects beneath the island and looking for changes in the water already around us. The colony moved its clutches during the night on the far side of the island. They came through the lower marsh channels."

"How many adults?"

"We confirmed six," Corian said. "There may have been others beyond the visible channel."

"And you ordered a full evacuation on the judgment of a trainee."

There was enough emphasis on the last word to change its meaning.

Corian's expression did not move. "I ordered it on the judgment of the person present who understood nesting Water Zrakes."

"Without obtaining Councilor Raymer's assessment."

"Dannian was at camp. The colony was between us and him, and an adult had already begun driving us toward the island's interior. Waiting would have left less time to evacuate."

"You did not independently confirm that the colony would claim the entire island."

"No. I trusted my specialist."

The word settled through me with a warmth that had nothing to do with Ashter, and an emotion I wasn't quite ready to name yet.

Specialist. Not trainee. Not asset. Not the sum of restrictions and assessments filling the file under Janus's hand. He'd said it flat, the same tone he used for weather reports and duty rosters, as though trusting the judgment of a twenty-one-year-old the Council had spent her whole life deciding not to trust required no explanation at all. Councilor Vale's mouth tightened around the word. I watched her decide not to argue with it, and hated how much that decision mattered to me.

Master Edrin glanced between us. "For the report, should the evacuation be recorded as ordered by Commander Favaris following advice from Trainee Jade?"

"Record that Jade identified the nesting colony and called for immediate evacuation," Corian said. "I transmitted the order to the squad."

Councilor Vale's brows drew together. "Favaris, command remained yours."

"Yes. That doesn't make her judgment mine."

I looked down at the route card before anyone could notice what the words did to my face. The Council had spent years putting other names above decisions that began with me. If I succeeded, an instructor had trained me well. If I refused, Janus had failed to control me. If I survived a test, the person who designed it had produced useful results. Corian could have taken the evacuation and called it command. Instead, he was making the official record point back toward me.

Dannian rested his forearms against the table. "The wording is accurate. Jade recognized a clutch before any member of my research team understood what the flare had caused. Her warning gave us enough time to remove every person from the island without injuring an adult or damaging a single egg."

Master Edrin added the line. The rest went into the record in details that should have felt smaller but didn't.

Then Corian reported his fall.

"Displaced fractures to the lower left tibia and fibula," he said. "Jade treated the injury on site and restored full field mobility."

Councilor Vale's gaze sharpened. "How long did the treatment take?"

"Under one minute."

"For two displaced fractures?"

"She is classified Apex," Janus said, speaking for the first time since the report began. His voice was calm, but it ended the direction of the questions before Councilor Vale could push farther. "Rapid repair is consistent with her registered output."

Master Edrin dimmed the report crystal when the field questions ended, leaving the next exchange outside the standard Water Rift record. "That raises another issue. Why is Jade's suppression collar absent while she is off duty?"

Every muscle around my throat tightened as if the metal had returned through memory alone.